A Briggs Passport & Visa Expeditors

The Canadian Travel Bureau of the Canadian Government is acknowledging that it is having problems issuing passports in a timely manner mostly because of the U.S. requirement to have a passport for air travel into and out of the U.S. It effects Canadians the same way it does U.S. citizens.

A Briggs is not able to obtain expedited passports from Canada.

Here is the article from the Canadian Government:

OTTAWA — Passport Canada is reporting continued long delays in processing mailed-in passport applications, despite a streamlined renewal process and hundreds of new employees.
And there is concern those delays will only get longer as the busy winter travel season approaches.
Officials blame a glut of new applicants for the delays, as demand for the documents continues to grow dramatically.
It now takes a minimum of six weeks to get a passport through the mail; two weeks longer than the agency’s benchmark of four weeks.

And that doesn’t include the time it takes to get applications and documents through Canada Post.

Passport Canada spokesman Fabien Lengelle says many more people have applied for passports in the past six months than applied within the same period last year.

“The reason we have delays is that we have a very, very high demand,” Lengelle said.
In October 2006, Passport Canada was issuing about 13,000 passports a day.

By late last spring that number had reached 21,000.

Since the start of April,. the beginning of the fiscal year, the agency has issued 2.2 million passports, a 42-per-cent increase from the same period in 2006-2007 when just 1.5 million were issued.

In June, then-foreign affairs minister Peter MacKay announced measures to speed up the processing of passport applications, including a simplified renewal process.
At the time, there was a backlog of roughly 170,000 applications.

Since then, Passport Canada has hired nearly 700 new employees, raising the number of passport officers and clerks to the equivalent of more than 2,600 full-time personnel.
Agency officials won’t divulge gthe size of the current backlog, arguing that the number fluctuates from day-to-day.

“(Backlog) is not a very accurate measure,” said Lengelle.

“Demand is the true driver here.”

The new renewal process, which came into effect Aug. 15, allows Canadians to renew their passports without getting guarantors, as long as their current passport is less than a year from expiry and has never been lost or stolen.

Traditionally, the busiest time of year for Passport Canada is the period from Nov. 1 through the end of March.

The agency is preparing for a further upswing in demand, but acknowledges delays could lengthen despite its best efforts.

“It all depends on demand,” said Lengelle.

“If demand goes above capacity, then we will have (further) delays,” he added.

“Passport Canada is doing everything it can to raise its capacity to a level where we will be able to meet demand over the coming months.”

The agency has been able to maintain a two-week timetable for processing applications delivered in person at passport offices.

As well, Canadians who can apply in person, are willing to pay more and who can prove they will be travelling sooner, can get a passport within 24 hours on an urgent basis, or through Passport Canada’s ‘express’ service.

But that doesn’t help the thousands of Canadians who have no choice but to use the mail system to obtain travel documents.

Demand for passports has increased dramatically since the United States imposed rules requiring them for air travellers. Similar rules are expected to be in place as early as next summer for land travel across the U.S. border.

In the United States, demand also peaked earlier this year from Americans seeking passports, causing significant disruptions to some people’s summer travel plans.

But the State Department announced last month it had worked through a massive backlog of passport applications and that its processing times were back to normal after months of major delays.

However, the normal waiting period for a standard passport application in the U.S. is six to eight weeks - three weeks for expedited service. U.S. officials deal with 17 million passport applications annually.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

Under new plans travelers will have to have a passport for travel between the Britain and the Irish Republic, so that the governments will be able to monitor the travel of individuals.

The new system will allow governments to monitor it in advance, so authorities in the governments will know be alerted if a person on their watchlist of terrorist suspects, illegal immigrant and criminals books a reservation to travel.

UK citizens in the U.S. needing help with their UK passport can contact A Briggs. Rush UK passports can be obtainted in days with proof of immediate travel.

The news was reported on the BBC

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

Under new plans travelers will have to have a passport for travel between the Britain and the Irish Republic, so that the governments will be able to monitor the travel of individuals.

The new system will allow governments to monitor it in advance, so authorities in the governments will know be alerted if a person on their watchlist of terrorist suspects, illegal immigrant and criminals books a reservation to travel.

UK citizens in the U.S. needing help with their UK passport can contact A Briggs. Rush UK passports can be obtainted in days with proof of immediate travel.

The news was reported on the BBC

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

It’s a small achievement, but it is just the first of thousands of automatic passport readers at borders around the world.

The idea is to replace immigration officers at the border. You would simply scan your own passport and it checks your facial features and your iris to ascertain if the passport holder is the same person appearing at the border. Sort of like checking yourself out at Walmart.

It’ll be faster and safer. Another benefit of technology. Also, it may take a few hours longer to issue an expedited passports when these passports are issued by all countries.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

It’s a small achievement, but it is just the first of thousands of automatic passport readers at borders around the world.

The idea is to replace immigration officers at the border. You would simply scan your own passport and it checks your facial features and your iris to ascertain if the passport holder is the same person appearing at the border. Sort of like checking yourself out at Walmart.

It’ll be faster and safer. Another benefit of technology. Also, it may take a few hours longer to issue an expedited passports when these passports are issued by all countries.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order a visa and check the requirements for entry.

It’s no surprise to us that Passport Services, the agency of the State Department, has gone far over its budget. But before you jump to criticize them as Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. did (he blamed it on “incompetence and poor planning”), remember that no one knew how this was going to roll out — our country has never done anything like this in its history. And it was Congress that created this law requiring everyone to have a passport in just a couple of years from the time the law was passed.

In fact, Passport Services predicted with relative accuracy the demand for the year, it just didn’t correctly envision that so many of their 18 million estimated applicants would apply at the same time. We know the rules and the landscape of passports very well, and neither we nor anyone else in the know saw this coming.

We deal with Passport Services’ offices in eight cities and we know that the employees of those agencies are overall doing an excellent job of dealing with a difficult situation. So we take our hats off to them.

You can read more about the cost overruns on this Fox News article.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order or renew your passport.

Passport Services announced formally that expedited passport turnaround would take ten days for internal processing rather than three days.

Although criticized by members of Congress, the move by Passport Services is a move we applaud. They are simply acknowledging the reality they face.

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Planning a trip? Is your passport up to date? Click here to order or renew your passport.

A new article in “Market Watch”, an online newsletter published by Dow Jones that also publishes the Wall Street Journal, calls for the immediate resignation of Maura Harty, Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs, who is in charge of Passport Services, the agency of the Dept of State that issues passports.

The article says, “The government simply can’t keep saying it is wrong and moving on. This happens time and time again. It’s the worst administration in history and someone needs to be accountable and suffer consequence.

“The passport nightmare has caused more than 2 million passports to be delayed, a half-million of them for more than three months.”

It goes on to say, “Again, thanks Maura Harty. You’ve made my vacation and millions of other Americans’ the source of anxiety, frustration and disgust. The passport agency under your control regularly lies and provides misinformation. This is just what the government needs right now as it struggles with the worst reputation in history — both domestically and abroad. You prove its reputation is well-deserved. ”

So what does Market Watch suggest? It quotes her, then gives its solution.

” ‘Over the past several months, many travelers who applied for a passport did not receive their document in time for their planned travel. I deeply regret that,’ she said in congressional testimony. Don’t regret, resign…

“How about the administration send us a signal that it does indeed care about its citizens and fire Maura Harty and replace her with someone who can get the job done right. She had the chance and blew it. Now many of us are suffering the consequences of her inabilities and inactions. She should suffer the consequences too.”

The article below is from the online periodical, “Government Executive.” I include several comments on the article addressing the subject that appeared with the article.

House backs bill to boost hiring for passport processing By Brittany R. Ballenstedt

July 16, 2007

The House on Monday approved legislation that would enable the State Department to bring in extra help to process passport applications.

The bill (S. 966), which the Senate passed late last month, would allow State to rehire retired Foreign Service employees to staff overwhelmed passport processing centers across the country.

Demand for passports increased significantly at the beginning of this year, when travelers were required to comply with a 2004 law mandating passports for all U.S. citizens traveling by air within the Western Hemisphere. That requirement has been suspended to allow citizens with pending passport applications to travel until Sept. 30 with proof that they’ve applied.

Currently, the department is receiving more than 1 million passport applications a month and holds a backlog of about 500,000 that have been pending more than 10 weeks, instead of the usual six to eight, said Edgar Vasquez, a spokesman.

The House legislation would grant State the flexibility to rehire retired and fully trained passport processors on a temporary basis to help existing processors manage the increased demand.

Retirees now have little incentive to return because current law cuts their salaries by the amount of their pensions. While the department has some authority to waive such rules, that authority is limited to personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bill sponsor Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement that the current bottleneck is affecting all stages of passport processing, from the initial scanning of an application to the adjudication of citizenship. Call centers to assist people in New York City and across the country are overwhelmed with passport processing questions but do not have the staff to address the calls, Schumer said.

“The passport system is on the path toward a mass meltdown as processing delays have pushed the average wait time to two and a half months,” Schumer said. “By pulling these Foreign Service members off the bench, the State Department will gain additional manpower that could well be the key to breaking this passport logjam.”

State has tried lengthening work hours and requiring overtime, but has said it still lacks qualified personnel who have undergone the background checks necessary to handle sensitive passport adjudications. Currently, it takes the department between three months and a year to vet and train a new passport adjudicator, leaving the agency with little flexibility to handle surges in demand.

Vasquez said that the legislation would help a great deal, but meanwhile, the department has rolled out plans to return the time to six weeks by the end of this year. It plans to do this through an adjudication training program for Presidential Management Fellows and recent college graduates, who, after training, will move to one of the two busiest passport agencies in the country — the Portsmouth, N.H., and New Orleans offices. The sole focus of these employees will be to address the backlog, Vasquez said.

Vasquez added that through the training program, State plans to reduce the backlog and processing time to eight weeks by the end of September, and reach the six week goal by the end of the year.

He said, however, that the new legislation could help the department address the problem faster. “We welcome any such move by the Congress that will assist us in correcting the situation with the passports,” he said.

COMMENTS

I am a current Federal Employee, I applied for the Passport Specialist position nearly one month ago. Still have not heard yes, no, maybe?. The State Department IS NOT trying fix this problem. They can’t, they don’t know how. If they were, they would be filling these position and getting people their passports. What’sUpWithThat? Posted July 17, 2007 11:01 AM
Hiring more people may help with the backlog. But what happens to them after the backlog is cleared up? I get tired of people trying to put the blame on others. The Passport Agency is not at fault here. It has been know for sometime that the new regulations would go into effect in January. Anyone that expected to travel this year should have applied for their passports earlier. My passport was to expire in February. I renewed it in October instead and had it back in three weeks. My position is not to hire additional processors. Let those who procrastinated wait and reinstate the requirements. Ralph Rankin Posted July 17, 2007 9:21 AM

I am leaving for Italy on July 25, 2007 to attend a family wedding and see my elderly relatives. I send for my renewal in mid-May. I supposedly made an appointment with the Passport agency in Philadelphia [through the dummy automated system]. I don’t understand why there is such a problem. Once they lifted the restrictions for passports to the islands, mexico, etc., the processing volume should not be any different than usual. This is a disgrace. I think it is just a way for the State Department to collect expedited fees. My cousin sent for a “new” passport a few weeks after I sent for mine and paid the expedited $60 fee. Guess what, she has her passport. I am sorry but this does not make sense to me. I think we should be reimbursed for any costs we incur to get a passport and most importantly for any lost travel expenses. Rosemarie Maribello Posted July 17, 2007 8:17 AM

This article is a fairly accurate reporting of the actual situation of firms like A Briggs and their dealings with the Passport Agency.

Before the passport problems of this year, we would routinely tell persons calling us because they needed a passport that they didn’t need to use us if they were leaving in four weeks or more. Now, we are never sure exactly what to tell callers, because there have been so many problems reported to us.

Here is the article from the Houston Post:

Buggs:
Fast route to passport paved with cash
By SHANNON BUGGS

Throw money at the problem.

That seems to be the only workable solution to the passport mess the federal government made.

Rules that went into effect in January require all U.S. citizens to have passports to leave and re-enter the U.S. by airplane.

So travelers, used to flying to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and Caribbean nations using only a driver’s license and birth certificate, flooded regional passport offices with applications.
The backlog is so deep, the application processing time has doubled from the usual six weeks to 12, although the State Department says it will whittle it down to eight weeks by fall.

Key receipt takes time

Earlier this month, the State Department relaxed the rules temporarily.
Until September, air travelers to these major tourist destinations can continue using their licenses and birth certificates as proof of identity as long as they present a receipt confirming that a passport application has been filed.

Although you can download that receipt from the State Department Web site, it could take as long as 10 business days from the time you submit the application to when you can print the receipt.

That catch — the receipt processing time — is a detail many travelers have overlooked.

But in the same amount of time, if you pay about double the usual passport fees, you could have your actual passport and not a piece of paper saying it’s on its way.

What expediters do

For fees of $100 to $200, expediters, also known as courier services or passport and visa firms, handle much of the legwork for passport applications.

That cost is tacked on to the $60 the government charges for expedited service and the passport application, as well as execution fees of: $67 for a renewal; $97 for a first-time passport for anyone age 16 or older; and $82 for those under age 16.

Adult passports are good for 10 years and children’s for five.

“One thing that I have seen a lot of lately is people contacting their local Congress people for support and assistance,” said Steve Diehl, vice president of business development for CIBT, the nation’s largest expediter. “And a lot of senators and Congress people have been calling us to help to get passports released. That never used to happen. That’s really unheard-of.”

‘By the rules’

The reason expediters can get done what you can’t is they don’t have to call the automated appointment number to schedule times with passport agents. The firms register with the State Department to act as authorized representatives for citizens, and their sensitive personal documents, and are allotted a set number of appointment times to handle their clients’ business.

“We go by the rules,” said Maria Lowe, owner of Wide World Visas, a passport agency and expediter in downtown Houston. “We represent people who are waiting in line like everyone else, but we do the footwork and spend the waiting time.”

And the rules as established by the State Department are that each of the 15 regional passport agencies determines the number of appointment times that will be reserved for expediters, said
Steve Royster, a consular affairs spokesman.

“They allow us to submit 25 cases a day,” Lowe said of the Houston passport agency. “Out of those cases, we can only have three rushes that can be obtained in 24 hours. I can get you a passport on a regular basis in about two weeks.”

Because Diehl’s international firm has outlets in seven of the U.S.
cities with passport offices, it keeps a database of all its appointment allotments and advises its mostly corporate customers to send passport paperwork to the office with the appropriate availability.

Of all the passport agencies, Diehl said Seattle and New York “continue to be relatively easy to work with. They pretty much have kept it together through all of this crisis.”

Businesses feel crunch

The bureaucratic breakdown is starting to affect more than vacationers, he said, generating many new corporate clients for CIBT, including an airline based in Atlanta.
“Pilots are not being able to fly scheduled flights because they can’t get their passports renewed on time,” Diehl said. “A lot of business is starting to be jeopardized by staffers not being able to get their passports turned around quickly. That’s an ongoing horror story that we are starting to see every day.”

Now, you know Fortune 500 companies are not about to lose out on millions of dollars of revenue to save a few pennies on getting passports processed. And neither should you.
Throw money at this problem to prevent canceling or delaying your vacation or business trip. You shouldn’t have to, but the federal government really hasn’t given you a choice in the matter.

Columnist Shannon Buggs has completed the personal finance planning certificate program at the University of Houston. Contact her at shannon.buggs@chron.com.

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